shadowing

[Chrisobean]

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just a question to those who have had the opportunity to shadow a doctor (any kind)

how did you go about doing it? was there a program set up through a hospital/clinic like volunteer work? or did you contact physicians on your own and ask? did you work with someone in private practice?

im curious, and would love to hear some responses especially from my nyc peeps...

thanks

bean

 

[DrWorkNeverDone]

I usually talk with them about me and what I am doing with my life in medicine and then I finally ask if we can sit down for a lunch sometime 🙂 doctors always take up a free lunch..then just casually bring up how you would like to shadow them...good luck!!!! I have ha offers 3/3 🙂

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Well, I'm not from NYC but...🙂

I went to the website of the teaching hospital at my university. There was a "Physician Search" feature and using that I got the names, addresses, and phone #s of about a dozen different doctors in various specialties that I was interested in shadowing. I sent letters to each of them telling them about me and my interest in shadowing. I gave them my email and phone # to contact me. Within a week about 6 doctors had emailed me back and most were willing to have me set up a time to come shadow.

I ended up spending time shadowing both a radiation oncologist and an EM doc. I really enjoyed it. Good luck!

 

[musiclink213]

you can talk to the premed advisor in your school. they usually have the names and numbers of docs who are open to shadowing. i know this is how i'm going to do it. usually, they're alums of your undergrad too, which is pretty cool.

 

[vizzini]

I know some doctors through church, some are my friends parents. I also work for a hospital, so I see doctors quite often. All of the ones I asked to shadow were very excited (they like to show off their skills). If you really do not know any doctors, I would just look some up in a phonebook, call and leave a message with a nurse or secretary and hope for the best. I promise most doctors will be really cool about letting you shadow.

 

[Northerner]

There's been a ton of threads on this very topic with a lot of good advice (although my own advice was probably not among those aforementioned responses...haha). I'd recommend doing a search on "shadowing".

 

[musiclink213]

if so many people are going to be asking about shadowing, isnt there a way to combine all the shadowing threads into one? it's so annoying, every time somebody asks about it, and there's already 30 million threads on the topic.

 

[Suey]

When you ask a physician to shadow them, do you ask them if you could do it for a couple of hours each week or do you ask them just to shadow them only for a day. I've shadowed a physician just for a day and I would really have liked to shadow him more but I didn't know how to ask him that. It seemed like he was doing me a favor by letting me shadow him and he was willing to help out. But I was afraid to ask him when I met him that day because what if he didn't want to be bothered with shadowing him continuously. So please share your suggestions!

 

[Northerner]

Good question.
In this situation, I would ask a follow-up, i.e. "how's such-and-such patient doing?", and then point out "I'd love to see more patients with you some time - if there's an appropriate time or day to do it." This gives them an out - if they give you the runaround they are probably not interested, but keep in mind most physicians are just busy anyways.

Or, alternatively, (depending on the specialty of the physician), offer a case you would like to see specifically, so that they know your interest is in more than just being their lap dog. Either pick out a case to see (if its an operation) ahead of time and ask about that one, or that day, or: suggest a procedure or type of case..."i'd love to have the experience of seeing a mitral valve repair", etc. Good luck, be prepared to ask good questions, be respectful, and have fun! (i dunno how much of that was obvious, sorry)

 

[Chrisobean]

i called a bunch of doctors offices in my neighboorhood, and either the receptionist:
a) has no idea what i am talking about
b) is way too busy to even talk to me since i am not a patient
c) just says no outright

am i doing something wrong?
i have no idea how to find a dr, and it seems like calling the receptionist is the worst way to go. i have no idea how to contact the dr directly. i cant find any e-mail addresses. and i would imagine this is going to be difficult regardless with all that HIPAA stuff as someone mentioned...

would you say there is better luck going through someone in private practice, or a clinic, or a hospital? alot of hospitals around me only allow volunteers.. and since i work full time im only really available to do this at night or weekends..

thoughts? (sorry if there is a million posts on this..)

 

[Amy B]

Originally posted by Chrisobean
would you say there is better luck going through someone in private practice, or a clinic, or a hospital? alot of hospitals around me only allow volunteers.. and since i work full time im only really available to do this at night or weekends..

thoughts? (sorry if there is a million posts on this..)

I would check with a clinic first. Do you have a free health clinic in your area? I was volunteering at one and one of the docs that I was regularily his assistant called a doc for me at the hospital. The doc he called was head of the pediatric oncology dept and he allowed me to follow him around on out-patient rounds. I set it up with him to have 4 shadowing times over a ~2 month timeframe.

Do you have a med school in your area? If you do they might be able to give you a name of a doc who is willing to have you shadow him. Otherwise get the web page of the hospital and start looking up email addresses for docs and email your request to them thus bypassing the receptionists. I do know what you mean about HIPPA through. I wanted to shadow a DO over the summer and hiut a brick wall with everyone in the Manassas area.

It is getting rougher and rougher to shadow docs. Schools may have to rethink the emphasis placed on shadowing (more so in DO schools rather than MD schools)

 

[Amy B]

Originally posted by Chrisobean
alot of hospitals around me only allow volunteers.. and since i work full time im only really available to do this at night or weekends

They allow volunteers?? Well, even though you work perhaps you can get some time free to volunteer there so then you can shadow someone there PLUS get clinical experience in for your application which is much more important than shadowing anyway.

 

[DD214_DOC]

The best is to just start contacting docs. I found email is probably better, as docs won't feel pressured into allowing you to shadow and you get direct access to them, rather than through a secretary or nuse.

I ended up having to travel 2 hours to shadow the DO I found, but I had completely unrestricted access to everything (he was a private practice family doc) and he even let me do some minor things. It was probably the best shadowing experience I have had!

I did manage to shadow two surgeons back before the HIPAA days. It was cool too, but I pretty much just stood around in the cold OR.

It is a difficult task to find a doc to shadow, but it's well worth it. Good luck.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Originally posted by Amy B
They allow volunteers?? Well, even though you work perhaps you can get some time free to volunteer there so then you can shadow someone there PLUS get clinical experience in for your application which is much more important than shadowing anyway.

Volunteering in hospitals is such a farce. If I was entering nurse tech school then I could see its usefulness, but I don't know any med schools that offer a Doctor of Pointless Bull****. (Hey! That's almost close to the podiatric medicine degree )

But seriously, it depends on the program and which area you volunteer. I did the ER, which was kinda cool but boring. I basically stocked, transported, and made beds up. Occasionally I would run stuff to the lab or get something for a patient or from a patient.

I did get to call patients back and bring them to an exam room, then give them instructions once. That was kinda fun. Another time I got to deliver and provide directions for a woman to take that barium crap they use for xrays.

I almost volunteered on oncology, so I could have more patient interaction. However, I found it somewhat difficult to talk to dying old people about anything.

 

[Chrisobean]

i cannot find one e-mail address for ANY doctor in my area. i live in the crappiest boro in NYC, and this is becoming more obvious every day.
how the hell do you find a doctor's email?

 

[thewzdoc]

Doesn?t HIPAA limit your ability to shadow?😕

 

[Amy B]

Go to your area's hospital web page. I think at this point in time almost all hospitals have their own web page. They almost always list docs and their departments and ususally include the email address.

HIPPA has made it difficult to shadow. I was told this was against HIPPA by at least 5 offices when I was calling around.

 

[GMO_52]

Nothing is against HIPAA if the pt knows about it. The doc just has to introduce you and get the pt's consent.

 

[Amy B]

Originally posted by GMO_52
Nothing is against HIPAA if the pt knows about it. The doc just has to introduce you and get the pt's consent.

That's what I thought as well. I think office staff needs to get a better understanding about HIPPA's rules. Unfortunetely you have to go through them to get to the doctor.🙁 Unless of course you can figure a way around them.

 

[duka]

I went through my pre-med office and arranged to shadow a doc for half a day every week for a year. It was a great experience because there was some real continuity. If you can pull it off, it is definately worth the time. Also, he has offered that when I get into my clinical rotations, I could go with him to guatamala, which he does for about two weeks a year. The relationship devellopment is great.

 

[smc927]

I happen to know quite a few doctors so it was easy. Nevertheless, they tell me you need only ask. So decide what area you want to shadow (family practice, surgery, etc), look up the name of a physician, give the physician a good sales pitch and see how it goes. If one says "no" just ask if he or she will refer you to a physician that might be willing.

I've never talked to a physician that wasn't once a college student needing to get exposure to the field!

Be brave and bold - go for it.